Intrapersonal and interactional empowerment: Implications for theory

This study builds on previous research linking empowerment theory with community participation. Empowerment theory has been criticized as overly individualistic and conflict-oriented resulting in an emphasis on mastery and control rather than cooperation and community. The purpose was to develop a measure of interactional empowerment (assessing intellectual understandings of power and social change) and compare scores on this measure with scores on a measure of intrapersonal empowerment (assessing one's personal sense of control and efficacy). Results found that persons with greater levels of intrapersonal empowerment reported participating in community activities with greater frequency than persons with lower levels of intrapersonal empowerment. Persons with greater levels of interactional empowerment reported participating in organizational activities and having a stronger sense of community than persons with lower levels of interactional empowerment.